“Last time we visited with her in person we talked about prepping and you know, are you ready for what can happen down the line when the economy collapses,” said the gunman’s aunt, Marsha Lanza. ---------------------cut------------------------ Nancy’s guns were supposed to be for self defense. Marsha Lanza called her nephew a special needs child. So far, no motive has been released. “Just pray for peace,” said Marsha Lanza. “Do I think gun laws need to be changed? No. It’s the person that does the killing, not the gun."

If there's anything the Newtown massacre has proven, it's that school zones billed as "gun-free" cannot be guaranteed to thus be. They're only virtually certain to be good-guy-gun-free. And it's time for this symbolism-over-substance policy to end. The fact is that we're making the good easy prey for the wicked, and this has been acknowledged by some current and former law-enforcement officials. As Vice President and Public Information Officer of the National Association of Chiefs of Police Jim Kouri writes: ******** [F]ormer police detective Mike Snopes believes that gun free zones invite killers. "The killer in [Newtown] came armed for...

It is uncommon to see an American president and an entire nation weep. It is also rare to hear about 20 precious children (and six adults) being gunned down at a school for no reason. But in America, horrific and senseless mass killings are not unusual and Americans cannot understand why they happen. Every so often (Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and the Colorado movie theater), a mass killing causes us to once again write about the unbearable ease at which lives were taken. There have been 31 school shootings in America since the Columbine massacre in 1999. Why? That...

My post “12 facts about guns and mass shootings” included a mention of Israel and Switzerland, societies where guns are reputed to be widely available, but where gun violence is rare. Janet Rosenbaum, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center School, has actually researched this question, and she wrote to tell me I had it wrong. We spoke shortly thereafter on the phone. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows. Ricky Carioti — The Washington Post Ezra Klein: Israel and Switzerland are often mentioned...

This shooting is yet another tragic example of the failed, grotesque insistence on helpless victim zones where any crazed gunman can be assured of a large number of disarmed, undefended, helpless victims, all crammed into one place, where he can kill many children before an armed defender arrives from elsewhere. It is disturbing and sick that the federal government so hates the right of the American people to bear arms, and so hates their natural right to self defense, that the government insists on making them helpless, disarmed victims for anyone who cares to kill them. And in this case,...

Indianapolis As a tow truck driver lay pinned between a car and a metal wire, it was a passerby's quick thinking that saved his life. Jamaryon Middlebrooks was driving along North Emerson on a Sunday night when a frantic person waved him off the side of the road. Middlebrooks found a chaotic scene, as the tow truck driver went unconscious and witnesses described him turning blue. "He wasn't breathing. ... They felt a pulse but that was about it," Middlebrooks said. Middlebrooks made a split-second decision, grabbing his handgun out of his truck and firing nine shots at the chain,...

Eight people have been killed and hundreds wounded, but the latest bloody chapter in Egypt’s unhappy recent history is about to draw to a close: this Sunday a referendum will be held on the proposed new constitution, and that, presumably, will be the end of that. And what it will most likely herald is the end of the brief era of any meaningful voting in Egypt, and of any hope on the part of women and Egyptian Christians for equality of rights before the law.Underlining the claim that to oppose their rule is to oppose Islam itself, the Muslim Brotherhood...

On September 7, 2012, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird unexpectedly announced that Ottawa had severed relations with Tehran, and that all Iranian diplomats were being expelled from Canada. He explained that, as of that date, Canada was considering Iran a terror-sponsoring country and formally listing it as a state sponsor of terrorism under the country's Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act. Canada-Iran relations soured in 2003, with the rape and murder of Canadian-Iranian journalist Zahra Kazemi in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison. Since then, Canada has been advancing a proposal for condemning Iran in the U.N. for human rights violations. Apparently,...

President Barack Obama is not ready to accept a new offer from the Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives to raise taxes on top earners in exchange for major cuts in entitlement programs, a source said late on Saturday. The shape and details of Boehner’s offer were uncertain Saturday night, as was the exact reason the president was prepared to reject it. … Tax rates and entitlements are the two most difficult issues in the so-far unproductive negotiations to avert the “fiscal cliff” of steep tax hikes and spending cuts set for the new year unless Congress and...

While white-steepled churches and President Barack Obama prepared to comfort a grieving town Sunday, federal agents planned to fan out to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on the life of school shooter Adam Lanza. Among the questions to be answered: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcée, keep a cache of high-power weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to shoot and kill 20 children, along with the adults who tried to stop him?...

Her Majesty’s Canadian Submarine (HMCS) Windsor returned to sea yesterday at Halifax, N.S., officially marking the completion of a deep maintenance cycle known as an Extended Docking Work Period. “HMCS Windsor’s return to sea is a key milestone and her crew now embarks on another challenging journey as they focus on operations at sea,” said The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence. “I commend the outstanding efforts of Windsor’s crew, our Fleet Maintenance Facilities and of industry that have brought us to this point.” “Over the next few months, Windsor will conduct additional crew training and trials on her...

India wants license to produce Iron Dome - report "Defense News": Israel is uncertain whether to let India have the technology to produce the rocket interception system. Israel and India are discussing cooperating in the development of weapons systems. "Defense News" reports from New Delhi that one of the aspects of this trend is India's wish to procure and manufacture the Iron Dome system against short-range missiles. During a visit to India last week, Ministry of Defense director general Udi Shani discussed with India's Defense Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma the progress of current defense projects by the two countries and...

USAF mulls options for replacement of Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle On 11 December, the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle marked the 26th anniversary of its first flight, but the venerable strike fighter will continue serving with the US Air Force well into the 2030s. "There are no plans to replace the F-15E for the foreseeable future," the USAF says. "It is true that the F-15E, like all of our legacy aircraft, are accumulating more flight time than used to be typical, but given current fiscal realities, the AF [air force] fleet will continue to age well past the point at which...

China's J-15 fighter superior to Russian Su-33 (People's Daily Online) On Nov. 25, 2012, China's carrier-borne J-15 fighter jet has successfully undergone a series of sailing and technological tests on the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, marking a great success of the carrier-borne fighter jet independently developed by China and a major breakthrough in the development of aircraft carrier technology. The J-15 is equipped with two high-power engines and a brand-new system of high lift device, takeoff and landing device and arrester hook. Its wing can be folded up to both maintain the excellent combat capability and meet the special...

A 1987 study ordered by the CIA found that Jonathan Pollard, convicted in the U.S. of spying for Israel, never sought to obtain information about U.S. activities. Rather, he was instructed by his Israeli handlers to obtain information about Israel's enemies. The 1987 study by the Foreign Denial and Deception Analysis Committee was ordered by the CIA. It is now being made public, 25 years later, with heavy CIA redaction. It said Pollard's handlers were Rafi Eitan, advisor on counterterrorism to Prime Minister Shamir, as well as IAF Col. Aviem Sella and Joseph Yagur, Counselor for Scientific Affairs at the...

Sen. John Kerry, who sources say has been tapped by President Barack Obama to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, will come to the post with a full plate of foreign policy crises, from the civil war in Syria, to the nuclear antics of North Korea, to a looming showdown with Iran over its nuclear program. Anybody who follows Clinton would have some pretty big shoes to fill. Clinton was not just the most popular member of the president's Cabinet for the past four years, she had celebrity status and respect almost everywhere she went around the world. But...

An eery post on an Internet message board made Wednesday night by a user allegedly in Connecticut who threatened to kill himself on Friday morning and 'make the news,' is raising some questions as to whether it was Newtown Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza. According to Infowars.com, the post appeared on the 4Chan web site at 10:18pm Wednesday and was made by a user with the user name ‘iKTatjYX.’ The post stated, 'I’m going to kill myself on Friday and it will make the news, be watching at 9am.'

Attorney General Eric Holder made a few remarks about the massacre at Newtown, Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School that should raise some eyebrows. "As a nation I think we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. We gather too often to talk about these kinds of incidents. We need to discuss who we are as a nation, talk about the freedoms that we have, the rights that we have and how those might be used in a responsible way. But for now I think we should concentrate on dealing with the situation in Connecticut and we are doing, and I...